Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Stilpo, David Roochnik and Graeme Forbes

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2 ideas

7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 3. Reality

1605	Reality can be viewed neutrally, or as an object of desire [Roochnik]
	Full Idea: There are two extremes: the Aristotelian views reality simply as reality, and the sophist or poet view reality only as an object of desire.
	From: David Roochnik (The Tragedy of Reason [1990], p.199)

7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 10. Vagueness / d. Vagueness as linguistic

12023	Vagueness problems arise from applying sharp semantics to vague languages [Forbes,G]
	Full Idea: It is very plausible that the sorites paradoxes arose from the application of a semantic apparatus appropriate only for sharp predicates to languages containing vague predicates (rather than from deficiency of meaning, or from incoherence).
	From: Graeme Forbes (The Metaphysics of Modality [1985], 7.3)
	A reaction: Sounds wrong. Of course, logic has been designed for sharp predicates, and natural languages are awash with vagueness. But the problems of vagueness bothered lawyers long before logicians like Russell began to worry about it.